The Kii Three was the product of the collective will of Bruno Putzeys, CTO of Kii Audio, who teamed up with a group of experts that included DSP specialist Bart van der Laan, Production & QC Manager Wim Weijers, Product Manager Thomas Jansen, and Chris Reichardt, CEO. Since 2015, Kii Audio has delivered a series of clever iterations of the same original design, undoubtedly innovative and of very high quality. It proved the effectiveness of actively controlling directivity at the low end, and as a result it gained enthusiastic owners and users globally.
The new Kii Seven Wireless Music System finally expands on that work, combining again a high-quality speaker design together with a completely integrated streaming and connectivity module - which helps explain why Kii Audio calls it a "smart speaker." Unlike what is commonly associated with smart speakers, which are usually single speakers with an omnidirectional dispersion, the Kii Seven has been designed as a cardioid speaker, thereby significantly reducing the impact of room acoustics.
This is basically an expansion of the same principles used in the Kii Three, in a more compact form factor, featuring two 6.5" side woofers, one 5" midrange driver, and one 1" tweeter with a custom waveguide - no rear drivers as we see in the Kii Three. The Active Wave Focusing principle allows the new Kii Seven to deliver the same precision response, while its built-in 600 Watt amplification, DSP and electronics all contribute to its superior audio reproduction characteristics.
As Kii Audio explains, instead of just splitting the spectrum into bands, as is done with traditional crossover filters, Active Wave Focusing filters force the specially positioned drive units in the Kii Seven to create a completely coherent wave front, that is only emitted towards the listener. As Kii Audio also details, this unique Active Wave Focusing technology provides the Kii Seven speakers with perfect time alignment over the full frequency spectrum, while ensuring the cardioid dispersion pattern is effective down to the low-mid and bass frequencies, providing even and highly detailed bass and significantly reduced acoustic interaction with the room.
A Complete Lifestyle System
As a smart speaker, the Kii Seven is a fully integrated entertainment system that is ready to work as a single speaker in a room, as a traditional stereo pair in a dedicated listening environment, or even as a multichannel home theater system. Seamlessly integrating with mobile devices through the Kii HOME app, the Kii Seven offers access to all the usual streaming services, control over multiple rooms/speakers, and even allows users to customize acoustic settings for up to twelve separate zones.
Physical inputs include XLR and TRS, AES/EBU, and KiiLink/KiiControl, plus Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Dante network interfaces. The Kii Seven offers all the integrated streaming options over Wi-Fi, including Apple Airplay 2, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, Qobuz Connect, and Roon Ready. And of course there's Bluetooth support, although Kii Audio doesn't yet details which "flavors". Alternatively, users can establish a network over Dante, which is valuable to combine multiple Kii Three and Kii Seven speakers for Dolby Atmos configurations. Using the physical connections and network options, the Kii Seven is ready to translate Hi-Res Audio up to 24-bit/192kHz.
The Kii Audio Kii Seven will be shipping early 2024, priced at $3,895 for a single speaker, or $7,790 for a stereo pair. For now, colors will be white and dark grey.
www.kiiaudio.com
